OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Gymnosperms (non-flowering plants): Conifers: Cupressales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Thuja occidentalis   FAMILY Cupressaceae   Go to FSUS key



SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Thuja occidentalis   FAMILY Cupressaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)

Thuja occidentalis

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)

Thuja occidentalis

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 2 (1993)

Thuja occidentalis

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 018-02-001:

Thuja occidentalis   FAMILY Cupressaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Thuja occidentalis

 

COMMON NAME:
American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

Trees You Want to Know (Peattie, 1934); illustration by F.A. Michaux    dcp34_p17

        

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905)    mtna_i_100a

        

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_thoc2_001_lvd

        

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / US Forest Service    pnd_thoc2_010_lhd

        

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

JK Marlow    jkm070629_002

June    Spartanburg County    SC

Hatcher Garden

Branchlets flattened in horizontal planes [T. orientalis's are vertical], per Weakley's Flora (2015).


click here to see other plants that look similar to this COMPARE conifers (not including Pines)

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

JK Marlow    jkm120830_299

August    Henderson County    NC

Holmes Educational Forest

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

JK Marlow    jkm120830_299b

August    Henderson County    NC

Holmes Educational Forest

The small branchlets look as if they had been ironed or pressed, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

JK Marlow    jkm120830_299c

August    Henderson County    NC

Holmes Educational Forest

Leaves opposite, scale-like, in pairs (the side pairs keeled, others flat), per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

Keith Bradley    kab_t_occidentalis_78573

August        Quebec, Canada

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

Keith Bradley    kab_t_occidentalis_78577

August        Quebec, Canada

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

Keith Bradley    kab_t_occidentalis_78578

August        Quebec, Canada

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

Keith Bradley    kab_t_occidentalis_78583

August        Quebec, Canada

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

JK Marlow    jkm090924_190

September    Hancock County    ME

Acadia National Park

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

JK Marlow    jkm090924_198

September    Hancock County    ME

Acadia National Park

image of Thuja occidentalis, American Arborvitae, Northern White Cedar, Flat Cedar, Eastern Arborvitae

JK Marlow    jkm090924_204

September    Hancock County    ME

Acadia National Park

Mature seed cones ~ 1/2" long, oblong, erect, initially yellowish-brown, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Thuja occidentalis   FAMILY Cupressaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Thuja occidentalis   FAMILY Cupressaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Thuja occidentalis

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Thuja occidentalis

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 2
Thuja occidentalis

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 018-02-001:
Thuja occidentalis   FAMILY Cupressaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Thuja occidentalis

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

1510

Tree
Perennial
Monoecious

Habitat: Dry limestone, dolostone, and calcareous sandstone cliffs, talus, and boulderfields, rarely in our area in calcareous swamps, also planted and persisting around old homesites and cemeteries (mainly in the Mountains), per Weakley's Flora

Native north of the Carolinas & Georgia

Rare

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)

LEAVES:
Evergreen
Simple
Opposite

"FLOWER":
Spring
Unisexual

Flowers solitary, terminal

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



 


Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME: